As promised I have pictures! These are of my humble abode, which includes a kitchenette and personal bathroom--no sharing here! One of the things that I have had some fun with is the bus system. Ecole Superieure du Bois (ESB) has made the bus easy to use, only needing to take one to get to school and one to get to the center of town. So far, it has been a stressful week with lots of unexcited and unpleasant surprises. When thinking of doing study abroad you never think that you would be bombarded with document after document to the point that you feel as if you are signing away your soul. My colleague and I have in the past two days have opened a bank account, bought housing insurance (like renter's insurance), health insurance (this is not the one the school has provided us), gotten a monthly bus pass, and signed the housing contract. Unfortunately, this list does not include everything that we need to do--we still have to find phones, electricity for our housing (for some reason it is not included), apply for financial help for housing and health insurance, finish paperwork for the school, and set up an appointment with the French government for our long stay visas. The sad part about all of this is that it is all necessary, so the price is irrelevant and all out of the students pocket because we have to wait until the financial aide we will received is processed at the end of the month. Thankfully through all of this, ESB has provided us with a "tutor" who has been taking us around, translating everything for us, and helping us get everything set up.
         Overall I am excited to start the school year and begin the long days of class--which will mainly take place between 8 am 'till 6:30 pm. I look forward to showing you the beautiful school that I have been given the opportunity to study at.